China approves world's first invasive brain-computer interface medical device

China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) on Friday issued marketing approval for the world's first invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) medical device, offering new hope for patients with paralysis to restore hand function by using brain signals.

The new-to-the-world product fills a critical void in both the domestic and international medical landscape, according to the administration.

"The medical device, called 'implantable brain-computer interface system for hand motor function compensation', is designed for quadriplegic patients suffering from spinal cord injuries. It can assist patients in achieving hand grasping function. Listed in the Class III medical device catalog, it is also the world's first invasive BCI medical device to go to market. It fills a clinical gap both domestically and internationally, making a zero-to-one breakthrough for invasive BCI medical devices worldwide," said Peng Liang, deputy director of the First Evaluation Department in the Center for Medical Device Evaluation of the NMPA.

For patients with spinal cord injuries, especially those who have been injured for more than a year, the difficulty of neurological recovery is extremely high.

The new device might help more people reignite the hope for life, as China now has 3.74 million spinal injury patients, with 90,000 new cases annually.

"In China, the cumulative number of spinal injury patients has already exceeded 3.7 million, with 90,000 new patients added each year. This means an average of 10 new patients every hour. Globally, the cumulative number of such patients has reached 15 million, and those under 50 years old account for more than 70 percent," said Chen Liang, deputy director of the Neurosurgery Department of the Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University.

The device can acquire electroencephalogram signals without touching brain tissue or damaging neurons, minimizing surgical trauma while ensuring long-term stability and reliability.

Different from consumer-grade BCI products, BCI medical devices must possess corresponding core elements for clinical treatment and obtain rigorous approval by drug regulatory authorities.

"The most important feature of a BCI medical device is its ability to read and analyze brain signals in real-time and interact with external devices to achieve a medical purpose. BCI products without a medical purpose do not belong to the category of medical devices. Some medical devices, although they read brain signals, do not perform real-time analysis or interact with external devices. So they are not BCI medical devices," said Peng.

China approves world's first invasive brain-computer interface medical device

China approves world's first invasive brain-computer interface medical device

China approves world's first invasive brain-computer interface medical device

Chinese scientists announced Monday that they have achieved a breakthrough in yak cloning, with 10 cloned calves all naturally delivered in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

These calves, consisting of three black yaks and seven white ones, were born from March 25 to April 5 at a yak breeding and research base in Xizang's Damxung County, all meeting expected standards and steadily gaining weight.

The mass births came after the first cloned yak was born in July 2025, which has grown healthily and weighs about 183 kg now.

The achievement was made using a domestically developed breeding system that combines whole-genome selection with somatic cell cloning, following three years of research by a Chinese scientific team.

"Whole-genome selection can accurately pinpoint excellent genetic loci associated with large body size, fast growth, strong fecundity and disease resistance, high feed conversion efficiency, and tolerance to high-altitude and low-oxygen conditions (cold resistance). On this basis, somatic cell cloning enables 1:1 precise replication of the genotype through asexual rapid propagation (cloning), thereby compressing the breeding cycle to within five years," said Fang Shengguo, a professor at the College of Life Sciences at Zhejiang University and director of the State Conservation Center for Gene Resources of Endangered Wildlife.

Yak farming is one of the key industries targeted for development in Xizang during the country's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). Traditional yak breeding has relied on phenotype selection, a process that can take up to 20 years and often leads to declining genetic quality.

Researchers said the new method can shorten the breeding cycle to less than five years by accurately identifying desirable genetic traits such as faster growth, disease resistance, feed efficiency and adaptation to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments, while enabling rapid replication of elite breeding stock.

Experts added that the technology could also support conservation efforts for rare yak genetic resources, including the endangered golden wild yak, whose population in Xizang is estimated at more than 300.

So far, the research team has developed more than 200 cloned embryos of golden wild yaks and hybrid wild-blood yaks, laying the groundwork for future embryo transfer and species recovery programs.

China achieves large-scale births of cloned yaks